“How the fuck do you lose a baby?!”
“Oh come on, why is it my fault!? I left her with Steve!”
“And I gave her back to you while I went to class!”
“Well I had things to do!”
“More like people.”
“Oh fuck off, Neil. Sorry you’re a prude.”
“At least I’m not a slut—”
“ENOUGH!” Archer barks. He loosens his grip on Beau’s collar and watches as his twin brother slinks to the floor. “This is everyone’s fault. We were supposed to keep an eye on her.”
“I did my job,” Archer’s younger brother, Steve, says. He jabs a thumb at Beau. “Someone was having chicks in his room while he was on baby duty.”
Beau, still on the floor, holds his hands up in defense. “Listen, I just wanted to talk to her about the nanny position,” He says. “It’s not my fault she had great tits and those fuck me eyes—”
“You’re disgusting,” Archer snaps. “Do you ever think of anything besides pussy?”
“Yes,” Beau says, getting up. “My dick.”
The two other brothers groan in response. Archer seethes. He brushes past Beau, slamming their shoulders together. He stops in front of the crib where a little girl was supposed to be.
“Alright, so maybe – just maybe! – I fell asleep while watching her,” Beau says.
“You really are insufferable,” the fourth brother, Neil, says.
“You all know how much she cries,” Beau went on. “She finally shut the hell up so I thought she was asleep. I closed my eyes for, like, five minutes and I look up and she’s gone. I thought Steve was doing his creepy experiments on her again!”
“They’re not creepy,” Steve protests. “I’m trying to see if I can harness her asleep wolf to try and lead us back to her mom. You only think they’re creepy because you and your wolf have never had a conversation behind who to fuck!”
Beau scoffs. “We’ve had plenty of meaningful convos!”
“Enough,” Neil, the eldest, snaps. “It doesn’t matter which one of you idiots actually lost the child. It matters that we find her. She’s only a year old and I don’t want her out there on her own.”
“Let’s split up,” Archer says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Check all parts of the campus. She can’t have gotten far.”
“Neil and I will get Wyatt to come with us to south campus,” Steve says.
“Beau and I will get north campus,” Archer agrees. “Meet at the temple in an hour.” The brothers all nod at their leader before darting off in different directions.
An hour later, they reconvene at the Hayes temple on campus. It’s black marble exterior is shining in the moonlight. A massive blonde wolf emerges from the woods, it shakes and slowly turns into Neil. He pushes his long hair off his forehead and marches towards his other brother, perched on the steps of the temple.
“Any luck?” Steve says.
Neil shakes his head. “After we split by south road, I traveled the perimeter west. No one had seen the kid.”
“Fuck,” Steve hisses.
Two more wolves emerged from the east side of the temple. The dark brown one nips at the grey one. They both shake and transform into their human selves. Beau laughs at Wyatt Jones, campus beta, while Wyatt sneers back at him.
“Goddamn it, Beau,” Wyatt snaps. “Is nothing serious to you?”
“Just a love bite, baby,” Beau coos back. Wyatt lets out a low growl.
The biggest of the five wolves emerges from behind the temple. He’s a deep, chocolate brown and stockier than the other four. He lets out a warning bark at Beau before shaking into the human form of Archer. He scowls at his twin brother.
“Focus,” he hisses. He looks at his companions. “Any luck?”
The group is quiet. Archer lets out a low growl. He turns and sails his fist into the trunk of a nearby tree. It snaps in half immediately, sending a deafening crack into the air. Slowly, the tree aches and falls to the ground. Archer’s shoulders are still hunched in anger as he looks back to the group.
“Someone call grounds keeping,” Beau snorts under his breath. Steve smacks him lightly on the arm.
“We’ve looked everywhere,” Neil says. “I’ve even sent out a distress call to some pack members to keep an eye out. No one’s seen anything.”
“Did we check the Cave?” Wyatt says.
All of the brothers sharply turn to look at him. Steve looks nervous. Neil and Beau wear curious expressions. Archer cracks his knuckles.
“What about the Cave?” he snaps.
Wyatt shrugs. “I dunno,” he says, tentatively. “Is it possible one of the Untouchables got hold of the baby?”
“Oh like your bitch step-sister?” Beau chimes in. “Feral animal that one is.”
Archer raises an eyebrow at Wyatt, pushing him to answer the twin’s question. Wyatt shrugs. Archer’s face falls into an amused and contemplative smirk.
“She’s defiant enough, that’s for sure,” he adds. “No one’s ever attempted to strike me. I applaud her audacity.”
“She’s got fire in her eyes, that’s for sure,” Beau snorts. He pauses. “Stirs something deep within me.”
Neil sends him a look. “Right then,” he says. “Let’s get cross campus to the Cave. Even if the kid’s not there, maybe the idiots saw something.”
“They’re such cowards,” Wyatt added. “If they saw anything they’d give it up without a fight.”
“You better hope it’s not that sister of yours,” Archer says. “Or she’s fucking done for.”
Wyatt nods. “Agreed. I don’t even think my father can get her out of that mess.”
With one final nod of agreement, Archer took off and bolted into the woods. He darted behind some trees and a split second later, the massive brown wolf was sprinting across the campus. The rest of the brothers and Wyatt all exchanged looks before that all took off after Archer. Each of their own wolves sprouted from their skins and chased after the alpha.
It only took them a few moments to get across campus. They all stopped in front of the rickety doors. Each human form emerged from the wolf form with a tenacity in their eyes. Archer gave a half a human growl at the door. It was locked from the inside. With another huff, Archer slammed his heel into the lock. It shattered in half and the doors flew in. With Archer in the lead, the five walked down the stairs of the Cave and into the dimly lit cavern.
Several giggles and voices were hear from farther down the passageway. Archer put his index finger to his lips to keep the group quiet. They stalked through the Cave like hunters. As they emerged into the more well lit room, the laughter got louder. All of the voices were quiet when the brothers set their eyes on the scene in front of them. Each of their eyes went wide.
The Untouchables were all surrounding Wyatt’s step-sister, Chloe. In her arms, was their missing baby.
